Today is the start of the Boise Open Studio Collective Organization’s annual open studio tour weekend. Many artists will have their studio open this evening, as well as Saturday and Sunday. We have 60 artists participating this year!

My studio will be open tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

I locked my bike and walked across the street, ready to get out of the heat. I pulled open the large red door and stepped into the white room. Lines were strung across the room. Tiny clothespins held delicate sheets of uniform rectangular paper. It looked like a multitude of Tibetan prayer flags, but they weren’t. These were impressions of Boise.

There are some food leftovers that I look forward to having the next day as much as the first. But I am always excited for the Leftovers Print exchange hosted each year by Wingtip Press. This year was Leftovers VII and an exhibition was held at MING Studios earlier this year in May.

As I walked in the door, piles of original prints laid on tables all around the room. Almost 100 of them! I could not wait to get my eyes on them. Linocuts, etchings, woodcuts, chine collé, lithographs, solar plate prints, drypoint and more – a smorgasbord of prints. And I was there to help sort them all out.

A few weeks ago, I drove down to Flagstaff for Anna’s 20th birthday. I arrived on Friday and Anna, being a college student, already had plans for the evening. Of course, she was able to spare enough time for me to take her and her friend out to dinner (me paying) before the event. How could my girl young lady be 20?!!

One might see or hear something unknown and ask, “What does it mean?” Or we might confront someone’s actions and ask, “What is the meaning behind this?” One of the more existential questions we may ask is “What is the meaning of life?”

The answers to these questions may not always be found. We can explore, observe and bring our personal views to discover meaning. The same can be done when viewing art and figuring out what is the meaning behind the exhibition title, The Meaning of Meaning.

I am seeing red . . . and pink, and purple, and gray and all kinds of different colors at the Flying M Valentine for Aids art auction. Artworks cover just about every inch of wall surface from table height to ceiling at the downtown coffee shop and they are all up for bidding.

As the sun set and darkness descended, the misty fog shrouded the street lamps and created an air of mystery. We entered the building, I, with a bit of nervous anticipation. Once inside, the huge space enveloped us. I was given my name tag, with the title “Artist” on it. This title makes me happy.